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December 1, 2007

2009 Season - 2007 FOOTBALL REVIEW

2007 FOOTBALL REVIEW

Vikings have strong finish with two straight victories; Finish fifth in NCAA Division III in rushing offense and ninth in total defense; Augustana leads CCIW in nine team statistical categories

12 points in three games. That is all that separated the 2007 Augustana Vikings from a third straight College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin championship. A tough stretch that saw the Blue & Gold drop three close road games proved to have a huge impact on the two time defending league champions.

The result was a 5-5 overall record and a 3-4 mark in the CCIW. After starting the campaign with a 65-0 shellacking of MacMurray at home, the Vikings traveled to Berea, Ohio and fell to 24^th ranked Baldwin-Wallace by a score of 24-8. They rebounded nicely after a week off, defeating Wisconsin-Platteville 34-24 at Ericson Field thanks in part to an offense that gained 446 yards.

That set the stage for the CCIW opener on September 29 in Bloomington, Illinois against Illinois Wesleyan. In a game played under the lights, Augustana jumped out to a 13-0 lead midway through the second quarter and still held a 16-7 advantage at halftime. The Titans fought back, however, and put together a 94 yard, 15 play drive, scoring what proved to be the eventual game winner with 7:53 left in the game.

The 22-19 loss would be the first of three straight close road losses. All of the games were played at night all three could have gone either way.

After losing to IWU, Augustana came home and piled up 470 yards rushing in handing Elmhurst a 28-7 defeat. The Vikings have not lost to the Bluejays since 1979 and sophomore Jake Parke (St. Joseph-Ogden HS, St. Joseph, Ill.) led the ground game with 149 yards on 25 attempts with one touchdown.

With the win over Elmhurst under their belts, Augustana was hoping to make some headway in the league race with a night game at Wheaton. The Thunder was ranked fifth in NCAA Division III and was undefeated but the Vikings put forth a tremendous effort. In the final minutes of the game Augustana drove to the Wheaton seven yard line but was unable to punch the ball in and fell 28-24.

A week later the road/night jinx bit again as the Vikings suffered five turnovers in a 33-28 loss at Carthage. A 31-15 homecoming loss to Carthage on October 27 left Augustana at 3-5 overall and 1-4 in the CCIW with two weeks remaining in the season.

Over those final two weeks the Vikings revved up the running gain and the result was a pair of resounding victories to end the season. They churned out 357 yards rushing in a 35-0 win at North Park on November 3 and then came back with a 369 yard performance in a 44-7 thrashing of Millikin on November 10. The defense was also equal to the task on the last two Saturdays, holding North Park to minus 10 yards rushing and allowing Millikin just 50 yards on the ground.

Augustana led the CCIW in a total of nine team statistical categories. Most notable of those was the rushing offense figure of 289.4 yards per game (2026 yards in seven league games) and total defense at 244.9 yards per game (1174 yards of total offense in seven games). The Vikings also were first in total first downs, first downs allowed, opponents fourth down conversions, red zone offense, red zone defense, third down conversions and time of possession.

In addition to the nine team leading categories, junior quarterback Tim Podulka (Elk Grove HS, Elk Grove Village, Ill.) led the league in passing efficiency with a rating of 168.1 and sophomore running back Jake Parke (St. Joseph-Ogden HS, St. Joseph, Ill.) was tops in touchdowns scored with seven.

Augustana finished fifth in NCAA Division III in rushing offense with an average of 299.7 yards per game (2,997 yards rushing on 611 attempts in 10 games). The Vikings were also ninth in the nation in total defense, giving up just 246.8 (2468 yards in 10 games).

Parke and sophomore offensive tackle Blaine Westemeyer (Blue Valley Northwest HS, Overland Park, Kansas) were both first team all-conference selections. Parke led the team in rushing with 552 yards on 106 attempts and in scoring with nine touchdowns and one two point conversion for 62 points.

There were five Augustana players who made second team all-conference. Defensive tackle Tom Ferguson (New Trier HS, Glencoe, Ill.), offensive guard Scott Kretzmann (Naperville North HS, Naperville, Ill.), linebacker Preston Jones (Bureau Valley HS, Sheffield, Ill.), running back Josh Galliart (Orion HS, Orion, Ill.) and Podulka as an offensive specialist were all named second team.

Senior offensive lineman Jon Verhelst (Soldotna HS, Soldotna, Alaska) was selected to play in the Aztec Bowl, which is a collection of NCAA Division III players who compete against the Mexican All-Stars in December. Verhelst, a pre-season NCAA Division III All-America selection, was the 10^th straight Augustana player to be selected in the game, a streak that began in 1998 when Chris Meskan was chosen.

2007 COLLEGE CONFERENCE OF ILLINOIS & WISCONSIN STANDINGS

2007 AUGUSTANA FOOTBALL SUPERLATIVES

INDIVIDUAL AWARD WINNERS

AZTEC BOWL PARTICIPANT – Jon Verhelst

NCAA DIVISION III ALL-NORTH REGION (D3Football.com) – Blaine Westemeyer, OT

CCIW ALL-CONFERENCE SELECTIONS – First team: Jake Parke, RB & Blaine Westemeyer, OT…Second team: Tom Ferguson, DT; Scott Kretzmann, OG; Preston Jones, LB; Josh Galliart, RB & Tim Podulka, Offensive Specialist.

CCIW PLAYERS OF THE WEEK – Tim Podulka special teams, 09/22/07…Tim Podulka, offense, 11/11/07

CoSIDA ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT – Blaine Westemeyer, third team

CCIW JACK SWARTZ AWARD – Blaine Westemeyer

CCIW ACADEMIC ALL-CONFERENCE – Joel Campbell, Jason Doetch, Mike Guignon, Greg Knapp, Ryan McGinnis, Brian Schoon, Ben Sisk, Augie Anderson, Chris Green, Danny Hilby, Matt Pautz, David Sally, Eric Smith, Andy Klink, Adam Krejci, Brandan McAtee, Eric Meyer, Jake Parke, Blaine Westemeyer, Andrew Hansen, John Mago, Alex Schroeder, James Wood

NCAA STATISTICAL RANKINGS – TOP 10

RUSHING OFFENSE – 5^th at 299.7 yards per game

TOTAL DEFENSE – 9^th at 246.8 yards per game

CCIW STATISTICAL LEADERS – TEAM

RUSHING OFFENSE – 1^st @ 289.4 ypg (2026 yards in seven games)

TOTAL DEFENSE – 1^st @ 244.9 ypg (1,714 yards in seven games)

TOTAL FIRST DOWNS – 1^st @ 150 (108 rushing, 32 passing and 10 by penalty)

OPPONENTS FIRST DOWNS – 1^st @ 90 (32 rushing, 48 passing and 10 by penalty)

OPPONENTS FOURTH DOWN CONVERSIONS – 1^st @ .294 (5 of 17)

RED ZONE OFFENSE – 1^st at .844 (27 of 32)

RED ZONE DEFENSE – 1^st at .600 (12 of 20)

THIRD DOWN CONVERSIONS – 1^st at .500 (57-114)

TIME OF POSSESSION – 1^st at 35:54 to 24:06

CCIW STATISTICAL LEADER – INDIVIDUAL

PASS EFFICIENCY – 1^st, Tim Podulka @ 168.1 rating (34 of 48 with five touchdowns and one interception and 383 yards)

TOUCHDOWNS SCORED – 1^st, Jake Parke with seven

CCIW STATISTICAL TOP TEN RANKINGS – INDIVIDUAL

RUSHING – 4^th, Jake Parke @ 68.1 ypg (477 yards in seven games) & 10^th, Josh Galliart @ 45.0 ypg (315 in seven games)

RECEPTIONS – 10^th, Jason Kwasigroch @ 3.83 rpg (23 catches in six games)

ALL PURPOSE YARDS – 8^th, Tim Podulka @ 87.4 ypg (239 yards – 12 receiving, 72 punt returns, 239 rushing and 291 kickoff returns in seven games)

KICKOFF RETURNS – 4^th, Tim Podulka @ 20.7 ypr (291 yards on 14 returns)

PUNTING – 7^th, Andy Klink @ 32.4 ypp (584 yards on 18 punts)

SCORING – 3^rd, Jake Parke @ 6.3 ppg (44 points in seven games) & 7^th, Ryan Gibbons @ 5.3 (37 points in seven games)

FIELD GOALS – 4^th, Ryan Gibbons @ 0.71 fgpg (five in seven games)

EXTRA POINT PERCENTAGE – 4^th, Ryan Gibbons @ .957 (22 of 23)

QUARTERBACK SACKS – 7^th, Preston Jones @ 0.57 (four sacks in seven games)

TACKLES FOR LOSS – 5^th, Preston Jones @ 1.43 (10 – eight solo and two assists in seven games)

TEAM AWARDS

MOST VALUABLE OFFENSIVE PLAYER – Tim Podulka

MOST VALUABLE DEFENSIVE PLAYER – Preston Jones

MOST VALUABLE SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER – Tim Podulka

JERRY FRECK AWARD – Greg Knapp

MOST VALUABLE FRESHMAN DEFENSIVE PLAYER – John Mago

MOST VALUABLE FRESHMAN OFFENSIVE PLAYER – Drew Hansen

SCOUT TEAM OFFENSIVE MVP – Steve McGough & Curt Perschnick

SCOUT TEAM DEFENSIVE MVP – Brandon McAtee & Jon Hamilton